The present invention relates to a side visor fastener for fixing a side visor of a motor vehicle to a frame such as a door frame of a vehicle body.
A conventional fastener for a side visor and a side visor fastening process will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3. In FIG. 1, a side visor is fixed, for example at two positions, to a door frame 3 positioned at the upper portion of a door glass 2. A backseat-side side visor 1A is also fixed to a frame positioned at the upper portion of a backseat-side door glass 2A. A conventional side visor fastener 5 for fixing the side visor 1 to the frame 3 is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, which are sectional views taken along the line Axe2x80x94A of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 shows a process for fixing the side visor 1, and FIG. 3 shows the state after the side visor 1 is fixed to the frame 3.
In FIG. 2, the frame 3 is formed with a retaining portion 7 into which a sealing rubber 6 for receiving the door glass is fitted. The frame 3 is also formed with a bonding surface 9 with which the upper portion of the side visor 1 is brought into surface contact. The lower portion of the bonding surface 9 defines a part of the retaining portion 7 and additionally serves as a mounting portion 11 to which a retainer 10 of the side visor fastener 5 is fixed. The retainer 10 is formed of a metal plate member. For fixing the side visor 1 to the frame 3, the upper portion of the side visor 1 is first attached to the bonding surface 9 of the door frame 3 by means of a double-sided adhesive tape or the like. Then, an attaching portion 13 of the retainer 10 is pushed into the mounting portion 11 of the frame 3, as shown by the arrow 14, to fix the retainer 10 to the frame 3. The retainer 10 includes an extending portion 15 extending along the rear side of the side visor 1, and the extending portion 15 is formed with a fastening hole 18 to be aligned with a fastening hole 17 of the side visor 1. The sealing rubber 6 is then pushed into the retaining portion 7 of the frame 3 in the direction of the arrow 19 and is held by the retaining portion 7. In this state, as shown by the phantom line in FIG. 3, the extending portion 15 of the retainer 10 and the side visor 1 are sandwiched by a clip comprising a pin clip element 21 and a receiver clip element 22 to fasten the side visor 1 to the extending portion 15 of the retainer 10. The receiver clip element 22 has a hollow tubular portion capable of passing through the fastening hole 17 of the side visor 1 and the fastening hole 18 of the retainer 10. When the pin clip element 21 is inserted into the tubular portion of the receiver clip element 22, an engagement portion of the pin clip element 21 engages with an engagement pawl of the receiver clip element 22, and thereby the pin and the receiver clip elements fasten the side visor 1 to the retainer 10 by sandwiching the retainer 10 and the side visor 1 therebetween. Since the retainer 10 is fixed to the frame 3, the side visor 1 is also fixed to the frame 3 through the retainer 10. By fastening the side visor 1 to the retainer 10 in this way, the side visor 1 as attached by the double-sided adhesive tape is firmly fixed to the frame 3.
The aforementioned conventional side visor fastener includes a retainer to be fixed to the mounting portion of the frame, and a clip for fastening the side visor to the portion of the fastener extending from the retainer as fixed to the frame to the side visor. Further, the clip comprises the receiver clip element to be disposed on the rear side of the side visor and the pin clip element to be inserted from the front side of the side visor into the receiver clip element through the side visor so as to engage with the receiver clip element. Thus, the conventional side visor fastener has an advantage of a simple structure. Further, its assembling operation is advantageously facilitated as described above. However, as the design of the side visor is varied depending on types of motor vehicles, the inclination of the side visor with respect to the frame will be variously changed. As a result, a large number of differently sized retainers have heretofore been required to cope with various types and styles of motor vehicles. In particular, as for similar side visors, various corresponding retainers have to be prepared and managed, and each of the retainers has to be fixed to a frame of the corresponding type of motor vehicle without failure. This requires costs and time for preparing the variously sized retainers and managing them, and can undesirably give rise to the risk of attaching an improper retainer or a wrong assembly, during the operation for fixing the retainer to the frame.
In the prior art, it is know to use a clip that has a female member and a male member, wherein after temporarily attaching a component such as an assist grip to a first panel such as a roof lining with the female member, the first panel is aligned with and pushed toward a second panel such as a vehicle body to temporarily attach the component to the second panel with a leg portion of the female member, and then the male member is inserted into the female member to fixedly attach the component to the second panel without any loosing in connection. This clip is directed to temporarily attach the component such as an assist grip to the first panel such as a roof lining and the second panel such as a vehicle body, and then fixedly attach the component to the second panel. Thus, this clip is not suitable for fixing a side visor to a frame with simplified structure and facilitated assembling operation.
According to the present invention, there is provided a side visor fastener for fixing a side visor to a frame of a vehicle body, including a retainer to be fixed to a mounting portion of the frame and a clip for fastening the side visor to a portion of the fastener extending from the retainer as fixed to the frame to the side visor. The clip includes a receiver clip element disposed on the rear side of the side visor and a pin clip element to be inserted from the front side of the side visor into the receiver clip element through the side visor so as to engage with the receiver clip element. In the fastener according to the present invention, the receiver clip element is integrally connected with the retainer through a thin-walled hinge in a swingable manner in response to an inclination of the side visor with respect to the frame, and the receiver clip element is served as the portion of the fastener extending from the retainer to support the side visor through the thin-walled hinge, whereby the side visor is fixed to the frame through the retainer while the side visor is sandwiched between the receiver clip element and the pin clip element.
According to the above mentioned fastener, the receiver clip element can swing with respect to the retainer in line with the inclination of the side visor with respect to the frame, and the receiver clip element serves as the portion of the fastener extending from the retainer to support the side visor. Thus, even if a mounting angle (or inclination) of the side visor with respect to the frame varies, the side visor can be adequately supported only by swinging the receiver clip element with respect to the retainer in each case. That is, even if the angle of the side visor is varied, a structurally and dimensionally identical fastener comprising the retainer and the receiver and pin clip elements can be used. This solves the problem of undesirable costs and time for preparing the various retainers and managing them, and eliminates the risk of occurrence of the wrong assembly of improper retainers, during the operation for fixing the retainer to the frame.
In the above side visor fastener, the thin-walled hinge may be formed in selected one form configurations including a first configuration having a thickness equal to or less than one-half of either thickness of the edges of the retainer and the receiver clip element at the central region between the edges; a second configuration having gradually reduced thicknesses from both the retainer edge and the receiver clip element edge toward the central region; and a third configuration having an even thickness between both the edges, less than either thickness of the edges. Further, the thin-walled hinge may have a length between the edges of the retainer and the receiver clip element which is greater than a specific length required for the hinge function thereof to effect the swing action whereby the thin-walled hinge can adjust a displacement of a fastening hole of the side visor. The receiver clip element may include a tubular portion to be inserted into a fastening hole of the side visor, and an elastic gasket to be brought into close contact with the fastening hole. This can prevent water leakage from the fastening hole of the side visor. The gasket may be substituted with a suction-cup-shaped flange disposed on the outer periphery of the tubular portion to prevent water leakage from a gap between the fastening hole and the tubular portion. In either case, it is preferable to provide a waterproof cap on the tubular portion at the end opposite to the side visor to ward (or receive) water leakage from the tubular portion.
Further, in the above side visor fastener, a second hinge may be integrally interposed between the thin-walled hinge and the receiver clip element to connect the thin-walled hinge to the receiver clip element, the second hinge having a pair of hinge members connecting, in top plan view, the opposite sides of said thin-walled hinge to the opposite sides of said receiver clip element, respectively, so that the second hinge allows the receiver clip element to move with respect to the retainer in a longitudinal direction extending from the retainer to the receiver clip element and in a lateral direction extending crosswise to the longitudinal direction.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a side visor fastener capable of coping with variations in a mounting angle or inclination of a side visor with respect to a frame, while keeping conventional advantages of simplified structure and facilitated assembling operation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a side visor fastener which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art and provides a reliable connection between the bolt and the frame of various types and styles of motor vehicles.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a side visor fastener which is relatively inexpensive, which is simple to produce and easy to assemble.